Great article and you nailed it regarding purchasing leads. I tried a few times talking with various people over the phone but none committed. I often wonder how the greats like Dexter Yager and Bill Britt (both amway reps) built their businesses to such a large magnitude without the use of social media. I certainly believe social media has made building network marketing businesses much easier than back in the day.

I’m torn. I use Rodan+Fields but never considered being a distributor. Then a friend of mine introduced me to Jeunesse and got me fired up to be part of his team. I said “yes”. But now I’m wondering if the company is right for me because a) I read some negative stuff online about the company, the products, lawsuits, however the team is amazing! b) I actually really like what R+F has done for my skin therefore I feel I connect with the company more.

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Facebook used to be an easy source to tap into, but since they have formed a public company with shareholders who need to be kept happy, Facebook have changed their Terms of Service several times recently and have clamped down on a number of things that used to make lead generation relatively easy. They have discouraged siphoning off clients to external web sites and CPA offers, and have raised the cost of advertisements that do this. It remains a viable lead source however.
Great job on the top 25 MLMs. Really like what you’re doing for the industry as a whole. Your analysis is spot on. However, a closer look at retention rates for each company might give you another perspective on the value proposition of any given company. As a Doterra Wellness Advocate we are told by our corporate execs that we have a 65% retention rate with customers repurchasing the product within 3 months. And that if we based it on the industry standard of 12 months our retention would go up to 85%. I’m told that this is unprecedented in network marketing. So I’m believing that Doterra is succeeding because its selling a product that works and that users and word-of-mouth drive the business in the long run.
Are you more comfortable turning customers into distributors or distributors into customers? Before you sink effort and your precious money into lead development systems, make sure you have a comfortable recruiting strategy that matches your style and promotional campaign. Know your products and compensation plan, understand how to access the company support systems, and enlist the back-up support of your sponsor. Then you'll be prepared for sponsoring success. Creating leads without the skills to turn them into members of your organization is a formula for disappointment.
Twitter offers a more automated means of lead capture. With a target web site, either your own or the ‘offer’ money site, you are in a position to write short articles or blogs and then post Tweets carrying links to these articles. Keep those down to about 10% of the total, linking the other 90% to interesting on-topic snippets elsewhere on the web. Then use a good scheduler to queue a week or two’s Tweets and then let it run on auto pilot.
This article was really informative and honest! I’m not presently involved in an MLM and I don’t ever plan to be especially after reading this article and the comments below. Why? Well because of EXACTLY the kind of “networking” and “recruiting” that these companies and many of the people commenting on here are advocating. I have been bombarded on my facebook, and other social media from people I haven’t spoken to or seen in years. Its becoming constant, and I am not on social media to make money. Roden and Fields, shakeology, some girl I went to high school with is now trying to get me to buy leggins from her. I have a cousin that I actively avoid now because he is constantly steering every single conversation to Herbellife and why I NEED it to be healthy. Jesus. Its just enough already. I’m all for empowering people, and I love the idea of earning an additional income to take care of your family or yourself. But I could not imagine alienating or even just annoying friends and family in order to make an extra dollar. What I dislike most is that many of those that are recruiting make it seem as if they recruiting you simply because they want to “help” you or provide you with an opportunity. They make it seem as if they are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, when really the actual motivation is line their own pockets with more money, because the more people you recruit for your team, the more money you make. That feels dishonest and slimy to me. Unless I’m asking for “help” or an “opportunity” I wish people would assume that I don’t need and am not interested in one!

Amway stresses that the main difference between a legitimate MLM business model and a pyramid scheme is that a legitimate MLM is focused on selling products, not recruiting more salespeople. In a legitimate MLM, it should be possible to make money by simply selling products directly to customers. With that main criterion in mind, here are some other ways to identify product-based pyramid schemes:

Hi Don,First I want to say how impressed I have been with your company. I have dealt with a great deal of leads companies over the last 6 years and have never dealt with a more responsive company than yours. Actually they don't come close to being this quick to respond- let alone it being the owner of the company to reach out. So thank you for that! Also, thank you for the information! I'm happy with that response - I was just curious about the process. This is only my second time ordering leads at or over 10,000 in ...

Hi JP. Good stuff all the way around, my man. Hey, I’ve been approached by Ariix, & didn’t know if have heard of them, and if so, a simple 👍 or 👎 will suffice, unless you’d like to elaborate, of course. One obvious concern I have is that (& can disclose this, since it’s of public record/knowledge per the list above), the current leadership in place at Ariix all came from USANA, and given the FBI/SEC became involved with USANA in ‘07, & Ariix opened in ‘11, well….I think you know from where I’m coming as it relates to anything you may be able to convey. Thx again, JP, for all of your efforts, & if you’d feel more comfortable in emailing me, obviously that would be perfectly fine! And apologies on this extremely verbose message!😳

Here we’ve got a throwback to network marketing’s roots (Remember Tupperware parties? No? There’s a reason for that). Kitchen products, cooking demos, and mommy bloggers galore. Stay-at-home-moms looking for some flexibility are still a HUGE target demographic for MLM, so it’s no surprise that Pampered Chef has done so well that Warren Buffett decided he needed a piece of the action.